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The Genius of Dnyaneshwar
Dnyaneshwari Verses 175–275 Geeta Chapter 1
Chapter 23
The War Within
How does a talented boy feel, when he is brought to live with his cousins, by his mother after his father’s death? And this boy is no ordinary boy nor are the cousins. They are to inherit the Bharat dynasty (please see Chapter 22), the reins of which are being presumably held only temporarily by a visually impaired king, the father of this boy’s cousins and his paternal uncle (please see Chapter 22). From a modern psychological point of view this situation was not ideal for normal psychological growth. Did the boy’s environment generate a feeling of deprivation? Were there subtle hints, dropped in conversations? Was there an occasional insult? Did his mother have the same status at all times as compared to the queen of the blind king? Did he receive the same encouragement as his cousins did? Childhood can be a wonderful time, certainly in a royal household. There would be so much to do and so much that could easily be done that these psychological pinpricks would have paled before the wonder that was childhood. It was an innocent world in which brothers and cousins were not segregated. That segregation and even the debriefing1, to use modern terminology, would come later when adulthood dawned. For now, here in the palace, there were mentors and servants, uncles and aunts, a school and a playground, holidays and picnics. Royal guests were received in the court and spiritual masters, during their occasional sojourns2 were honoured and heard. All boys cannot, of course, be the same. Some are smart, others strong, some show wicked streaks, an occasional exception leans towards philosophy. Yet tired at the end of the day, they lapse into peaceful sleep. The ghosts of titles, rights, perceived and actual insults, jealousies and seeds of envy are yet to sprout and haunt. As mentioned earlier, all this waits till adulthood dawns. In this context, the recipient of the Geeta, our prince, Arjun, by all evidence, the most blue-eyed of all the boys in the extended family